CMA CGM believed to have firmed up three 16,000 teu jumbos at Samsung

Sky is the limit / Credit: CMA CGM

The French Line CMA CGM is believed to have firmed up three 16,000 teu jumbo container ships at Samsung Heavy Industries of South Korea. Though an official confirmation is still missing, the deal should have taken place at least one month ago already.

The sister vessels, Samsung hull numbers 2092, 2093 and 2094, are slated for delivery in March, May and July of 2015.

CMA CGM’s deal with Samsung has taken quite some time to materialise since it is an order with a back story and linked to earlier orders for large container ships that Hamburg’s non-operating owner Claus-Peter Offen had placed on behalf of CMA CGM. With the exception of two ships, these vessels were never delivered. The order cancellations however remained a bone of contention between CMA CGM, Offen and Samsung, until the matter could be sorted out earlier this year.

Technical specifications of the new ships are not yet in the public domain, but the in-house design for a 16,000 teu vessel that Samsung Heavy presented some years ago is for 396.00m long and 54.00m (21 rows) wide ships with a deadweight of about 180,000 dwt.

The ships of the new CMA CGM trio are expected to be built along these general parametres which, at least in terms of dimensions, are very similar to the French Line’s DSME-built 16,020 teu CMA CGM MARCO POLO and her two sisters.
Whether Samsung and the ship owner agreed to modify the original design to adapt it to today’s slow steaming environment is not known.

CMA CGM already has three DSME-built 16,020 teu ships and will add the aforementioned trios from Korea and China in 2015. By the end of 2015, the French carrier will thus have nine ships of 16,000 teu or larger.